Taoist believe a deceased
may still have a chance to be revived within 7 days’ period, hence the
relatives of the deceased will normally invite a Taoist to perform a soul
retrieval ritual to call back the lost soul. However in recent years, such soul
retrieval ritual has revolved into specific ritual performed to call back the
dead souls of the accident victims for deliverance services.
This watermelon soul
retrieval ritual is specific to call back the lost body of a drown victim at sea.
The ritual:
1. Set up an altar with appropriate offering
substances such as fruits, incense, paper money etc. at the location where a
person is believed to be drown. The altar can also be set on a boat if the
location is in the middle of the sea.
2. When everything is ready, the Taoist will read out
a passage expressing his intention to perform this ritual. After that the name
and age of the deceased is called out aloud.
3. Now a conjuration mantra is recited while wielding
a soul catching banner to call upon adjacent spirits for assistance to retrieve
the drown body.
4. After that a watermelon together with paper
offerings are thrown into the sea while calling the drown person’s name.
5. If the ritual is fruitful, then the drown body will
be recovered in the vicinity of the drown location. Provided of course, if the
sea spirits are willing to release the soul of the drowned.
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